The next stop (#4) on this adventure is Meteora — a UNESCO world heritage site. Meteora is six monasteries perched atop rock formations that reach upwards of 1800 feet. The word Meteora is derived from a Greek word meaning “suspended between sky and earth” and the sight of the monasteries perched on these unusual pillars coming up from Earth is a sight to behold. (Google Meteora for drone pics.)

We checked in to our hotel late yesterday (Wednesday), and since we were less than ten minutes from Meteora, the boys explored the area last night climbing on rocks, going into caves and watching the sun set.

They had dinner at Taverna Bakaliaraka enjoying (according to D) the best Greek salad of the trip because it was swimming in dressing and has the largest chunk of feta. They had sausages and brought me spicy feta dip and bread so I could eat dinner while working.

The hotel, Doupiani House, was adorable. The closest you can get to Meteora, nothing fancy, but the staff, the view and the breakfast couldn’t be beat.

Our favorites at their breakfast buffet was the simit cookies (only know the Armenian word for them), rice pudding, halva (which we hadn’t seen since Olympia) and spinach bouregs. A lot of additional food was offered — salads, ham, cheese, yogurt, etc, but we were excited by the aforementioned things. It was also the first hotel with good coffee and the hotel staff made a point to tell us that everything they served was homemade.

By 9:10am we were parked at the Great Meteoron monastery and saw four others by 1:30pm. They were all unique and the views were incredible, but it was also hot. I brought my portable fan and had a thin wrap that I used to cover my head and arms in the sun.

There was 30+ monasteries at one time and now only six remain. A different one is closed each day of the week so we didn’t get to see the inside of Holy Trinity. It’s only a few euros to enter a monastery but you need to be properly dressed. We came prepared but it was fun to watch the nuns yell at men in Greek who didn’t wear pants. I heard one of the ticket takers say “the nuns do not like knees.”

At lunch time it was 103 degrees. We dined on Greek salad, feta stuffed peppers, chicken souvlaki and pasta bolognese at Taverna Gardenia Plakias.

Leaving the small town, the car registered 107.6 degrees. It took four hours, including a brief pit stop for an espresso and ice cream to get to the city of Athens — our next stop.

Before checking into our hotel, we visited Olympic Park to see the stadium (they were setting up for the Guns and Roses show) and we tried to enter the basketball arena where the “Redeem Team” won in 2004 (and spoke with a man affiliated with the Hellenic Basketball Federation) but it was all locked up.

We’re staying by the airport tonight (Thursday, stop #5 on the trip) to pick up Miss M for the last week of this adventure.